Classification By TV Station?

Written by Reality_Check from the blog MKHANDATSAMA on 26 Aug 2007
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For Those who don't have DSTV and watch 'Free' Tv, ever noticed the social classification by the Television Stations?

Well I have and I think that these television stations have effectively managed to categorize the public according to the tv stations that they watch.

SABC 1 -Tag Line: Msanzi Fo Sho
               Caters for the below income - middle
                 income group.
               Also targets young viewers and up
               and coming entrepeneurs'black diamonds'
              Content;Dramas,urbanshows,reality
              shows, documentaries(usually focusing
              on Tradition, Norms in society, Culture.
Typically the SABC viewer is stereotyped as the mother who loves gossiping about Generations, teenager/young adult who wants to keep up to date with current trends.

SABC 2 - Tag Line: With 2 you know you're gonna feel
                at home.
                Target audience is mainly middle income
                earners. Also focuses on Sesotho, Venda
                speakers.
                Content: Family shows, multilingual
                dramas, comedy shows and magazine pieces.
The SABC 2 viewer is generalised as the family man/woman with a love of culture and lifestyle issues, who is intune with tradition.

SABC 3 - Tag Line: SABC 3(something to that tune )
                The SABC viewer is well off and falls into the
                upper income group.
                Content: Quality documentaries focusing on
                social problems, whisteblowing and health
                issues. International dramas and comedies
                form the majority of SABC 3s Lineup
The SABC 3 viewer forms part of societies top elite group and brings to mind the perfect little rich BEE/White family.

Etv - Tag Line - Be free with E
        Catering mainly for middle to top income
        earners Etv is versatile and also targerts lower
        income earners.
        Content: International documentaries covering a
        variety of topics, local and oversea dramas and
        soaps, game/reality/gossip shows .
The Etv viewer is branded as well informed, and categorised as the quintessential burgeois.

All in all these are just steretypes and what I think the TV Stations are working hard at targeting. Sadly ours is a society where people are placed in boxes and classified according to status and wealth. One might say that SABC One is for 'ghetto' people who live in townships and speak IsiZulu, Xhosa and broken English. While another may believe that SABC 2 is for the black minority which speaks Kwere Kwere languages and Sotho. An individual may argue that SABC 3 is only watched by rich, priviledged white people and the BEE type.

Again I stress that these are all generalisations yet they form the basis of the broadcasters marketing and publicity campaigns.

10 Comments

Brown Shuga
26 Aug 2007 10:32

<<Sadly ours is a society where people are placed in boxes and classified according to status and wealth.>>
That is not a nice thing, I agree.

However, if you are selling a product, you need to know which people would be interested in your product so that you can position it kakuhle in the market, make it accessbile to them and not forgeting attractive.
So we are saying that there shouldn't be that distinction according to age, income, race, interests, etc. My question is How should they do it?

I'm asking coz I think it's very difficult to please "everyone" and imagine if SABC tried to cater for everyone and air 50/50 right after Jika Majika, followed by Passions??? All in one channel?
Or maybe we are saying there should just be one "all in one" channel so that there is no "classification?"
Crappy is it is we unfortunately can't run away from the classifications coz even the laws of the country classify people.

I also don't think this "classification" story is unique to SA...don't other Television networks outside of SA do this?
Am just asking...

nonkez
27 Aug 2007 01:53

I'm asking coz I think it's very difficult to please "everyone" and imagine if SABC tried to cater for everyone and air 50/50 right after Jika Majika, followed by Passions??? All in one channel? true that> but i think sabc 1 caters for the non- informed ppl coz i dnt get why 3million ppl wld watch a repeat of soul city when there;s a nice show on another channel that is current.

Toodecent
27 Aug 2007 03:36

Free to air television SUCKS BIG TIME! thats a fact..

Username
27 Aug 2007 03:49

It’s exactly how it’s done in SA and would continue being that way because that’s how black people respond to some things and that’s how white people respond to some things. Ask yourself how many white people watch SABC 1 specifically Generations and Soul City and how many black people watch SABC 3’s wild life documentary shows and travel documentaries. The same thing applies to music; white people would rather listen to rock and pop whilst black people would rather listen to hip-hop, kwaito and rnb. Racial and financial classification is an issue that affects the smallest things in our country and would continue being so until the end of the world as we know it.

One question I have always had is “Why would a “Xhosa” speaking talk show host/news journalist/presenter ask a “Xhosa” speaking interviewee a question in English even in some cases the latter is struggling with the English language but the torture doesn’t stop and aired to millions for black people to laugh and scream he speaks broken English??????

charmed_dude
27 Aug 2007 03:58

great article Mkhandatsama, you are so right with how the channels target thier various demographics.

Foxy gal
27 Aug 2007 04:06

<<speaks Kwere Kwere languages and Sotho.>> Eish i can't say i know which is kwerekwere language!! Any1 care to tell me!?

tizoz
27 Aug 2007 04:39

etc. My question is How should they do it? - Good question BS, I have been saying this for a while, what SABC needs to do is restructure their channels, S1 can be for LSM 1to 5 and the keep it as is. (after all it is the cash cow) S2 can be for news and sports in any language you can possible think of live events documentaries etc, and S3 can be your high end with movies business news roundups and series like the series channel on DSTV

Dimago
27 Aug 2007 06:15

You are so right Mkhandatsama

lejazz
27 Aug 2007 06:52

Yes they cater according to classes that will fall under.SABC1 is for nguni speakers,SABC2 for venda sotho afrikaans and little bit of tsongaand while SABC3 is for english.

Darth Vader
27 Aug 2007 07:27

Just show everything in English, it is afterall the universal language.
It will add intelligence to the masses.

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